Turnabout
by Lily Grace
Summary: Twenty years, secret companies, and fear of discovery kept them apart. A desire for each other that remained over the years always brought them together. The story of Claude and Meredith.
1. Chapter 1

**Turnabout**

He was a man of science; a professor at a small high school in Texas, which seemed light years away from his childhood in England. He was a man who could find ease and humor in anything. He was a man of intelligence, who had been keeping the biggest secret in his own world: he could turn invisible. Nothing took him unawares, and at 35, with a wife at home, nothing seemed new.

And then she walked into his lab room. Her skin was smooth and glowing; for she had an inner fire in her that he had never seen in anyone before. Her blonde curls were rather messy around her face, as if she hadn't cared or bothered to do anything with them in the morning. He liked that; no muss no fuss. All the students quickly filed in, taking their seats, pulling out their notebooks to take notes on the chemistry experiment. A knock on the door jarred him, and he turned to see the vice principal standing there.

"Dr. Raines? We have a new student at school," she handed him the new class sheet, with a new name on it.

"Meredith Gordon?" He asked, looking right at her. She smiled at him as she stood.

"I just transferred from Dallas." She said simply, her southern accent lilting her voice. He was absolutely amazed by her. How could someone have so much beauty and presence at 15?

She became popular enough, being easy to get along with and exceptionally pretty. She had a keen interest in science and biology, so she was in his lab more than most students. He always had trouble breathing around her. Thoughts of her distracted him at home when his wife would smile at him, handing him a home cooked meal. He would half listen to her millionth talk about wanting children, and he couldn't help but wonder how comfortable he was with morally gray.

Meredith didn't understand herself why she liked Dr. Raines class so much. As she walked down the hall, ignoring all the cute boys trying to talk her up, she couldn't help but think about how his hair was slightly floppy and how he tried pushing it behind his ears when he explain molecular reconstruction. He wasn't particularly attractive, but she liked to stare at his refined nose, wondering if all men with crooked noses were intelligent. She herself wasn't the smartest in the bunch, and being just a southern girl, she knew she was given to flights of fancy…

She dreamed about sharing her secret: she could control and create fire.

They would discover each other's abilities within the same hour that day. Claude has been a professor of science at the high school for 8-years, Meredith had been a student at the high school for 2 months. They felt like they'd been skirting around their attraction since the second she walked into his lab.

"Bunsen burners today, class!" Claude called out as he entered the lab from his office.

"Awesome! Um, what are we doing with the eggs on our desks, Dr?" An eager boy asked.

Claude held up one that was hardboiled. "Oh, you're just going to find out the different chemical properties of eggs fresh and hardboiled."

"We're working with fire…" Meredith said quietly to herself, looking up quickly. Claude caught her eye, giving her a concerned look to match her own. She quickly shook it off, and then turned on the burner.

No one knew what happened, and if you asked anyone in Dr. Raines' sophomore chemistry class in the years to come, they probably wouldn't remember anything significant about that day in class. Ten minutes into the session, her lab partner's burner flared up fast and hot. A second before it could've burned anyone, she has quickly put her hand over it, extinguishing it, turning the knob with her other hand in a swift motion to make it look like it had been done first.

Claude saw exactly what she did. A half hour later, school was over, and the snowy February day had sent everyone home. Everywhere was empty, except for an invisible man and a fire starter, who were still at their desks, staring each other down.

Claude sighed as he leaned into his desk and stood up. "Are you going to tell me what really happened, Meredith?"

She looked scared. "Are you going to tell anybody, Dr. Raines? Am I going to get in trouble?"

He leaned against the edge of her desk. "Why? What is your secret?"

She looked away, guiltily.

He gave a small smile. "You aren't the only one with secrets, Meredith. I've never shared mine with anyone." She looked at him curiously. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

She propped her arm on her desk, and leaned her face against her hand, pondering what fate she might stumble upon by fulfilling her dream.

Slowly, she moved her face from her hand, slowly brining up her thumb. With no hesitation, a flame suddenly appeared out of it, as though it were a candle.

Claude took it in stride. He gave her a little smile, suddenly realizing why he was drawn to her. He leaned down and blew out the flame from her finger. Their eyes met for a moment. Not saying a word, she took his face in both hands, and they shared a long, deep kiss.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were a tangle of clothes and hands and hair falling around their shoulders, and panting, and Claude wondered if he was dreaming as he could've sworn sex never felt this good, and Meredith knew that none of her school mates had any idea what they were talking about as she reveled in his weight on top of her. They had a hard time with the zipper on the back of her uniform skirt, so Claude shifted, with Meredith riding astride him, his hands pushing her skirt up, almost reaching her bellybutton.

As she moved on top of him, she felt that fire that had always remained contained, sweeping through her and enveloping the two of them on the floor. She didn't know it could become so intense. It burst through and around her, and somehow she knew Claude felt it too, as his legs went into a spasm beneath her and his hair got damp from the heat and sweat.

It seemed that all at once, every Bunsen burner flame lit.

Footsteps echoed along the long hall outside. Meredith and Claude laid on the floor together, naked and warm, only a few flames still lit, two slowly dwindling out.

Meredith sat up quickly at the sounds, looking at Claude in horror.

"We're going to get caught! I'm going to be kicked out! You are going to be fired!" She looked at him frantically.

He sat up, kissing her forehead. "Don't worry, they won't even know we're here. Dress quickly, if they come through that door, you have to be touching me."

She quickly buttoned up her shirt as she nodded at him.

"Dr. Raines left something on in his lab. There's light coming from it."

Meredith couldn't ignore the panicked look on her face as she turned to Claude. He gave a calm smile and signaled her to be quiet as the door opened. The two English teachers shook their heads in dismay over Claude's negligence, and turned off the last three burners. They then walked out of the door, closing it behind them. Claude and Meredith sat in silence as they heard them walk away.

She stood up quickly, throwing her sweatshirt on in the sudden cold. "Are you going to tell me what happened? Is this your secret you're going to show me now?"

He stood up, not saying a word, just smiling at her. He slowly faded out and back into existence. Her jaw dropped, amazement crossed her face.

"Oh, my…God help us if I get pregnant." She said.

He just gave a small chuckle. "Some family, eh?"


	2. Chapter 2

They knew they didn't have to talk about it, and an ease and comfortable existence slid into place. Neither asked each other about their lives, about their families, friends, or even if their affair should continue. But each time they would look at each other while in an empty room, they would find themselves giving into each other, hands on each others backs, her legs wrapping around his waist, an urgent need passing between them that could only be eased by the others intimate touch.

They didn't share their romance with anyone, but she would tell him about her weekend at the mall shopping with her best friend, Claire, and he would tell her about the new detailing he had finished on the walls of his den, and about how his wife, Nora, hadn't realizes she left out the mayonnaise in the pasta that he choked down.

The fact was, because Claude could make them invisible, there wasn't any point in trying to be discreet, though no one ever caught on. Their moments together turned into two years, and Meredith was graduating and going to go a local college.

Her parents were gone for the weekend, which the two of them took full advantage of. Meredith got out of bed, lazily wrapping her robe around her.

"You hungry, babe?" She asked him, as he lay naked under the comforter.

"Nah." He noticed her rummaging through her book bag. "What are you looking for, love?"

She grinned as she proudly handed a wallet size of her senior portrait. "Me. Now you can have me with you wherever you go."

He took it with a smile, "Not that I really go anywhere."

She shrugged and skipped into the bathroom. "Wanna join me in the shower?"

He swung his legs out of the bed, reaching for his jeans. "As much as I'd love that, neither of us have time for it." He gestured at the clock that said 1:30. "We got a bit too enthusiastic just then, and we are meeting the realtor at 2."

She sighed as she brushed her teeth. "Am I pretending to be your daughter again?"

He felt guilty as she glared at him. It had been really awkward 3 months ago, when they had run into Meredith's new college counselor. They had all plastered big smiles on their faces as they made small talk, but Meredith felt like punching him as he hummed _Janie's Got a Gun_, as they walked away.

"Love, I'm sorry, but I really don't see any way around it."

She nodded, taking it in stride. He knew she was upset, but soon, everything was going to change. They had made a pact, on their one-year anniversary: Tell his wife, tell her parents, and move in together as she started college. He was going to divorce, and they were going to start a family together, hopefully, by the time she graduated.

"I hate being a teenager." She stated for the hundredth time since they started their affair, as she put on her t-shirt.

He knew what she was talking about. "Just think about 10 years from now: it won't matter when you are 27 and I'm 47. Distance in age doesn't mean anything." He came up behind her, enveloping her in his arms. "Anyway, you will be even more gorgeous at 30, and I will be a doddering old fool of 50."

She settled back against his chest. "You get better with age, Claude." She turned and looked into his eyes. "Remember what we said when we made that agreement?"

He chuckled as he rolled his eyes. "God, talk about cheesy!"

She playfully slapped him, "But it was true! 'I will be your love forever, babe.'"

He smiled and kissed her. "And I will be your babe forever, love." And they proceeded to walk out the door.

She was rather surprised that she didn't get her first pregnancy scare until a month before graduation. She surmised that they just must have been really careful. She took a home test, which came out negative, feigned illness so that her mom made her go to the doctor, where the negative results were more definitive.

She lied on her bed for an hour, a soft smile on her face, as she imagined her first child with Claude. He would probably want a boy, and she imagined him being tall, with dark hair like him, and his wit and wry sense of humor. She giggled a little at the thought of wanting her son to have his hooked nose that she loved so much. A knock on her bedroom door shook her from her fantasy.

Her closest friend, Claire stuck her head through her door.

"Hey, gimp."

She laughed. "I'm just not feeling well, I'm not incapacitated."

"Whatever." Claire hesitated, pushing her brown braid off her shoulder. "You contagious?"

"Nah."

"Good." Claire jumped onto her bed, making Meredith laugh. "Yeah, you're laughing now…" she handed her a manila folder. "those are all your assignments, hun."

Meredith made a face as she took them. She knew there wouldn't be any sort of private or personal message from Claude, as it was too public. "Ugh."

"Hey, I gotta use the – " Claire gestured towards the bathroom.

Meredith nodded absent mindedly as she went through the notes.

"I photocopied my own notes from geology and Spanish." Claire's voice came from the bathroom. "And Dr. Raines seemed really worried about you. I guess it's cause you've never missed his class before, and him being all into biology, he wanted to make sure it wasn't anything life threatening or…" Claire's voice trailed off.

Meredith looked up from the papers. "Or what, Claire?" She looked at the doorway, to see Claire standing there, looking confused. Then Meredith noticed she was holding a stick: it was her pregnancy test.

"Is this why you were at the doctor?"

Meredith jumped up, grabbing it from her. "I'm fine, I'm not pregnant."

"Who is he? You never date, you don't show any interest in any of the guys we've met…"

"Well, he isn't one of those silly boys you've ever flirted with." She quickly tossed the stick into the trash, after wrapping it in several tissues. Claire gave her a look. Meredith couldn't even meet her gaze. "I've been with him for two years."

"You've been sleeping with some guy since you were 15?" She was shocked.

"Say it a little louder, will ya? I don't think they heard you in Canada." Meredith shot back angrily.

"Well, you were only 15! That's illegal. I mean, I guess it's not now since you are almost 18, after all, the law states it's ok as long as you are close in age…" Claire's eyes widened in panic as Meredith looked away guiltily.

"Lord, how much older than you is he?"

Meredith sat on her bed, quietly anticipating the blowup from Claire. "Twenty years." She said, not looking at her.

For a minute there, she thought Claire had fainted, as she wasn't making any noise. She looked up to see Claire standing there in stunned silence with her jaw dropped.

Claire slowly sat next to her on the bed. "So, it's someone we both know."

Meredith nodded.

"Do you honestly think he's going to stay with you?"

"He's stayed with me for two years, Claire. No one else – I mean, unless you count his wife. But, I'm moving in with him after graduation. He's divorcing her, I'm telling my parents about him, and we are going to live together and raise a family together, and eventually, get married."

Claire sat there, her eyes closed, a pained expression on her face. "You really believe that, hon?"

Meredith couldn't help but smile as she recalled when they had first shown each other their abilities. "We've shared a secret with each other that no one else on Earth has ever seen," She looked at Claire. "yeah, I believe that."

A honk sounded form the driveway.

"My brother." Claire grumbled as she stood up. "Ok Mer, it's Tuesday evening. If I can guess who it is by Friday after school, you are going to tell me everything, including this secret you've only shared with him."

"Will you accept my relationship with him?"

"Meredith, you are one of my closest friends, and this entire time you've kept it from me, but you have also been really happy, so I guess it's doing you some good."

Meredith hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Claire. I'm going to name our first daughter after you."

Claire just hugged her back, chuckling, "Alright, Meredith."


End file.
